Monthly Archives: June 2014

Behind the stories there’s a group of enthusiastic writers working hard. Once a fortnight in a house in Newcastle, seven writers gather to share their work, offer encouragement, critique and constructive criticism.

It’s a wonderful opportunity to be part of such an industrious group of people. We range in, age, experience, genre and even gender. But our common thread is our passion for writing.

I’ve found it so important to share ideas, knowledge, fears, hopes and dreams. The support of a writing group can be valuable for improving writing skills, boosting confidence, challenging thoughts and having fun.

Together we’ve achieved so much in a short time; we’ve won numerous competitions, prizes, awards, commendations, been published in newspapers, online, e-books, hard-cover books and attended public events, live reads and radio shows.

You may have been asked this before. It’s the type of thing that’s asked at the beginning of motivational business conferences as the ‘icebreaker’. Or it’s written in curly font with butterflies on a meme shared around Facebook getting one million likes and comments such as ‘so true’ and ‘luv this’.

But have you ever taken a moment to sit back and think… what’s the one thing you would do if knew you wouldn’t fail?

On the weekend our writers group held a live reading event at a local coffee shop in NSW, Australia. I was lucky enough to be the MC, and before introducing each of the readers I shared one of my Friday Fictioneers pieces. They went down a treat (Rochelle, you would be very proud)! To read about the event, follow this link.

At the quirkiest cafe in downtown Cardiff, a group of writers gathered to read their work…

On Saturday afternoon I was lucky enough to MC a brilliant writers event in Newcastle, NSW. The day was informal yet structured, serious yet fun. The Mosh Pit Record Shop and Coffee Bar was the venue and about 30 people squeezed into the bright and eclectic space.

Margaret Jackson opens the event; records of all kind cover the walls

Most of the writers were from our writing group, and there were two guest writers and one young writer. Margaret Jackson, the founding member of our writing group, opened the event.